Cracks
by Nemisor
Summary: Yugi Mutou was the only person who could make Seto Kaiba's armor crack. Rivalshipping.


_A/N: Rivalshipping. Sooooo... I've done this one before. 6 years ago. As part of this contest. Interesting pair to start with. And again, like the last one I decided to go with heavily stylized. What's up with me and this pairing and writing stylized stuff?_

 _I have a friend visiting this week, so I wrote this one sitting on the bathroom floor while she slept in my room. Which might explain some things...  
_

 _Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Also hello my fellow contestants! I'll be reading your fics once my friend leaves on Monday and I'll try to be social and all. Good luck to all of you! :)_

 **Cracks**

Yugi Mutou became the first person to defeat Seto Kaiba in a long time.  
Seto had played with everything he had. He didn't believe in playing with half-measures, even if he knew he was far better than most.  
And he lost.

Mokuba Kaiba was there to see the downfall. Merely a child, he still understood his brother better than anyone else in the world. They had no one else but each other.

First came a silence. A terrifying shocked silence. It scared Mokuba; that someone, anyone, could bring his brother to such a state.

The silence was replaced with rants, Seto pacing the length of his room; mixing card game strategy with snide comments about the power of friendship.  
Mokuba listened to these in silence, letting the words blend together after a while, as he focused on his brother's sharp footsteps against the wooden floor, and wondered when was the last time his brother had smiled.

Yugi certainly had an effect on Seto Kaiba, but Mokuba couldn't be sure it was a good one.

Next Seto threw himself to his work, with fervor bordering on mania. Anything, anything to defeat Yugi Mutou.

Ignored, lonely and scared Mokuba grew bitter. Not against his brother, never against him. He was scared for him, terrified, that Seto would be lost forever in his crusade against Mutou, needing to prove himself the best.  
Mokuba grew bitter against Yugi Mutou: this boy he had never met. It was all his fault, he was a liar and a cheat, he must be.  
No one was better than Seto Kaiba.

Mokuba got to meet Yugi Mutou, eventually, on Pegasus' island.

He was nothing like Mokuba expected. Just another kid, a boy, short for his age, with a genuine smile and honest words, and a heart of light.  
And care for Seto, care that Seto had done nothing to earn, worry about the path he was on, the same worry that Mokuba felt. And more still Yugi had faith, faith that Seto was strong enough to find the path, to realize why he hadn't won.

It was not about winning, not with Yugi.  
"I do what I have to for the people I love," Yugi said.

Yugi made Mokuba remember how things used to be, how easy Seto's smile had came, back in those days. They were better off now, of course, but you couldn't see the better in Seto's eyes.

If there was anyone, who would get through to the layer of cold and stone and spite that Seto had acquired on himself over the years, it would be Yugi Mutou.

"Your brother has to do it himself," Yugi said and smiled: "I know he can."

Seto Kaiba tried. He was faced against a darkness that threatened to take the only thing he could ever admit to loving; his brother. He remembered Yugi's words, and he tried to have faith in his cards, feel the same love for them that Yugi felt. It was not enough, a small flame burning against all the darkness of Pegasus' mind games.  
Seto Kaiba believed and he still lost.

They made it through Pegasus' island, somehow all alive, all in one piece, because of Yugi, who had done what he had to, to save his grandfather.

He saved Kaiba brothers as well. They met outside, the brothers and Yugi and his friends, words were had. Here's what was actually said, behind the words:  
"Your love for your brother is not lesser than my love for my grandfather."  
"But it wasn't enough."  
"Mine wasn't either, not it alone. It was my friends, who's love and faith got me through the darkness."

And parting words:  
"Give it time."

For a short while after Seto's smile came easy. For the sheer gladness of being alive, of being okay.

But the thought haunted his mind, the desire to prove that he was the best.  
"You're still thinking about challenging Yugi?" Mokuba asked.  
"Yes. Are you saying I can't beat him?" Seto said, angry.  
Mokuba didn't answer, it was not as he thought Seto couldn't, it was that he thought he shouldn't.

There had been cracks in the armor, a smile here, a kind word there, and faith, in things like friends and love. Seto hurried to cover them up. He was angry, at himself, and at Yugi, who brought it out in him.

It broke Mokuba's heart to see his brother turn cold again. But Seto Kaiba did what he had to to survive.

He couldn't help the cracks that appeared when he was with Yugi. Something about the boy made his determination waver, except when they were playing. Yugi was like a different person when he played. That was the person Seto Kaiba could face, he could understand that person. He saw the same things he felt in himself, when he looked at that Yugi; a desire to win. Yet, when Yugi wasn't playing, the desire was gone, and Seto couldn't understand anything, least of all the things he was feeling himself.

And if only he could beat that Yugi, the Yugi he understood. Maybe he could face the other as well, with no fear, no heart hammering and his resolve, his will, his armor cracking under the gaze and the smile: so honest, so open.

He plotted and planned for a rematch. He forsook the advice Yugi had given him. One didn't beat games with a heart, one beat them with a will and an intellect. He could do it, he would show this to Yugi.

He challenged Yugi to a duel. No tournament, no prize, just the two of them, seeing who was the better one. And he was surprised to find not to be faced with the Yugi who desired to win beyond anything else, but with the Yugi who cared not for such things. Who smiled at him, when he shuffled his cards, glad only to spend time together.

The cracks were appearing.

"What do you want from me?" Seto said, under the pressure of those honest eyes.

"All I ever wanted was your friendship," Yugi said. And those words were the final crack in the armor. Gone, completely gone. Yet Yugi did not use, did not abuse. He barely noticed.

They played. Seto lost, though he knew he would the moment he had realized which Yugi he was facing. This was the Yugi he could never beat.

"You have earned my respect," Seto Kaiba said because those were words he could say and mean. It was the first trembling steps into a friendship.

The beginning was a shaky one. There were things Seto still didn't understand, about Yugi or about himself.

The understanding took a while, but things did become easier, with time.

It came to him one night, when Yugi had taken it upon himself to teach a new game to the Kaiba brothers. Seto watched Yugi leaning towards Mokuba, quietly explaining what the card he had just pulled could do. The familiarity, the kindness, it made something click. Seto finally understood.

Later that night it was Seto Kaiba who then asked for more, more than friendship. When he finally understood that which he had wanted from the very beginning.

And with a smile, Yugi was more than happy to give, reaching out to him for a kiss.


End file.
